Five Stories With Weak Stakes
What a villain is going to do matters more than what they’ve already done.
Analysis: Page 2
Five Badly Motivated Villains From Popular Stories
A character’s motivation tells us why they’re doing what they’re doing.
Five Stories That Suffer From Muddled Atmosphere
Clashing themes and inconsistent tone can ruin a great story.
Six Stories With Weak Romantic Attraction
Many storytellers neglect attraction in their rush to get the characters dating.
Five Fascinating Monsters From Speculative Fiction
The best monsters have novelty: something fresh and interesting to offer.
Five Baffling Tech Explanations in Spec Fic
We've reboozled the fintoozler to find silly examples of terrible technobabble.
Building Baubles: How Revenger Fails at Technology
Revenger's setting is both intriguing and highly confused.
Five Novels With Bizarre Tangents
Lack of plot focus in a story leads to convoluted and unpleasant detours.
Five Stories With Unsatisfying Endings
An unsatisfying ending ruins the lasting impression a story leaves.
How Three Book Series Kept Readers Interested
It’s challenging to maintain reader interest across multiple books.
Seven Prologues and the Problems They Cause
Prologues are almost always meaningless and disconnected mistakes.
Five Ridiculous Stories About Stories
Meta commentary on storytelling is often pompous, harmful, and incorrect.
Taking the Politics Out of Six Popular Stories
Ugh, why do stories have to be so political?
Space Sweepers Shows Us What Excellent Messaging Is
Pulpy scifi action can go hand in hand with relevant commentary.
Five Antagonists Who Never Stood a Chance
What’s the point of cheering for the good guys when their victory is inevitable?
Five Emotional Arcs That Fell Flat
Without real problems for characters to confront, emotional arcs lack substance.
Five Useless Powers in Popular Stories
Lack of consideration can lead to underpowered abilities.
How Legendborn Created an Enthralling Love Triangle
Love triangles have a bad reputation, but they can create compelling romance.
Episode 309: Adaptations… Again!
Sometimes a story is created as one thing, but you want to make it into another thing.
Daneets